Pedestrian safety is an important issue with an ever increasing number of vehicles on our roads. The majority of pedestrian crashes involve a forward moving vehicle, such as a car. During such a crash, a standing or walking pedestrian is struck by the front part of the vehicle and accelerated to the speed of the vehicle and then continues forward as the vehicle brakes to a halt. In such a crash the front part of the vehicle or bonnet leading edge often hits the upper leg, e.g. thigh or pelvis, of the pedestrian potentially causing limb injuries.
In a pedestrian vehicle crash situation as above it is desirable that the pedestrian's contact with the vehicle be as “forgiving” as possible so as to minimize possible injury to the pedestrian. However, at the same time the front part of the vehicle has to withstand a number of demands put thereupon in its daily use, such as the vehicle being pushed and persons sitting thereupon.
Solutions are known that adopt the passive shape of the front part of the vehicle, according to a from a production aspect advantageous so-called “soft nose” configuration often constructed from a thermoplastic material, which partially also will serve to mitigate collisions with pedestrians. By “Soft nose” is often referred to a front bumper cover which meets the bonnet of the vehicle at a rearward position. However, the main problem normally remains, that the energy created by the impact is not absorbed in a sufficient manner so as to reduce the range of injuries.
A previous attempt to address the above problems is shown in JP 10218022, which relates to an arrangement for reducing injury of a leg part or the like of a pedestrian, in the case that the pedestrian collides against a front part of a car body. The arrangement relates to a front part structure for an automobile body. A car body outer panel arranged between a hood panel and a front panel is provided with an inner panel, which is an energy absorbing amount control member lined to the outer panel. The outer panel is supported at a front end part of the car body by a plurality of support stays arranged for a buckling deformation function, so that by a synergetic effect of plastic deformation of the car body panel and buckling deformation of the support stays, shock energy can be effectively absorbed.
Although, this kind of solution may provide cushioning effect when impacted by a pedestrian this ability is usually difficult to reconcile with the demands put upon the bonnet in its daily use, as exemplified above.